Statement. Optimization of financial flows of the company is one of the most important functions of financial flows. As so as the improvement of financial management is the key to competitiveness and sustainable development of the company, the question of selection methods of optimization of financial flows is very important.

Research and publications. Nowadays, the research methods of optimization of financial flows involved foreign and domestic scientists, including I. Blank, M. Bilyk, V. Bugai, O. Deminina, L. Dobryk, H. Kramarenko, L. Lihonenko, H. Semenov and others. Despite the large number of scientific papers this issue requires further in-depth research and development.

The aim. The research aim is determination of the nature of optimization of the company’s financial flows and justification of its main methods to ensure its sustainable development and competitiveness.

The statement of basic material of research. All business transactions involving company financial flows, which provide assessment of the revenues, costs and a transfer of financial resources and assets. In general, equating cash flow to cash in terms of financial management, it is advisable to define a cash flow of the company as cash and cash equivalents in the business enterprise for a specified period [4, p. 156].

During the management of financial flows the leadership of the company faces a significant number of important objectives: ensuring timely settlements with creditors, investors and workers; ensuring the stability of the production process; variation in production volumes as needed; assisting accelerated circulation of money and more. In quantitative terms, best meet this challenge the balance between incoming and outgoing cash flow for any period of time and their synchronization that form the basis of the optimization of the company.

So, the optimization of financial flows is the process of choosing the best form of its organizations in the company considering conditions and peculiarities of its business [6, p.304].

The most important prerequisite for the implementation of optimization of financial flows is the study of the factors that influence their scale and formation of the nature in the time. These factors can be divided into external and internal. Accordingly, the external factors include: market conditions for goods and services, financial market, a system of taxation, the availability of financial credit; the possibility of involvement of the irrevocable trust funds. The internal factors include: the company life cycle, the duration of the financial cycle, the operating leverage ratio, enterprise depreciation policy, price policy and so on.

The results of cash flow optimization in the company reflect in the plan system of formation and use of funds in the coming period.

The main objects of optimization are:

positive cash flow;

negative cash flow;

balance of assets;

net cash flow.

This creates a situation that leads to excess and increase of the net financial flow fluctuations, compared to the magnitude of gains and losses. So, integral methods to optimize the financial flows of the company are to provide balance and synchronicity of positive and negative cash flows. The negative effects of deficit cash flow are showed in reducing the level of liquidity and solvency, growth of overdue payables to suppliers of raw materials and the state, increasing the share of overdue loans received financial credits, wage arrears, increase the length of the financial cycle and as a result in reducing of profitability of using the own equity and assets

The negative effects of excessive financial flows manifested in the loss of real value of money that is currently not used because of inflation, the loss of potential income from the unused part of monetary assets in short-term investing.

In domestic economic there are several methods of optimizing the financial flows of the company, but I. Blank and L. Lihonenko developed two opposite approaches to define the goals of optimization. Both theories have such lines of optimization as balancing and synchronization of revenue and spending money, but the main difference is in the definition of the third movement – accordingly, maximizing net financial flow or conversely aligning incoming and outgoing financial flows.

Lihonenko define that the third optimize financial flows of the company is their alignment [5, p. 127]. In this approach is implemented the conditions of effective usage of cash reserves assets by reducing their insurance balances related to cyclical and/or seasonal business of enterprises. We agree with the opinion of economist Iu. Ureshko that this method can be used for stable operating enterprises with minor cyclical and/or seasonal fluctuations in activity, however, cannot be accepted as a general element model of optimization.

Determining the acceptability of this approach is the comparison of the economic loss of benefits, part of cyclic and/or seasonal income of lost economic benefits associated with the mismatch of incoming and outgoing cash flows. In addition, at the adequate level of synchronicity cash flows this trend loses its feasibility from an economic point of view, since the company does not lose its ability to pay, even if they have little insurance balance of assets [3].

In our opinion, more practical model of optimization of financial flows is I. Blanc model the basic methods of which are [1]:

– to balance the volume of cash flows;

– ensuring synchronization of the monetary flows in time;

– ensuring the increase in net cash flow of the company.

Balancing of financial flows aimed at regulating their volumes in individual periods that allow to eliminate the seasonal and cyclical fluctuations in shaping of the incoming and outgoing of financial flows. To achieve an absolute harmonization of positive and negative cash flows usually fails, but may significantly reduce sharp fluctuations in their values.

Synchronization of financial flows of the company aimed at providing a clearer relationship between the incoming and outgoing financial flows. The results of this optimization method of cash flow over time estimate using standard deviation or coefficient of variation, which in the process of optimization should decrease, as well as using correlation coefficient, which is in the process of optimization should seek value “1” [8, p. 402].

The final step is to ensure optimization of conditions to maximize net cash flow of the company.

Maximizing financial flows is a trend that determinate the most important results of previous stages. Its growth enhances the increasing of resource efficiency and accelerates financial cycle of the enterprise, reduces its dependence of formation on external sources of financial resources, provides gains enterprises [7, p. 163].

The main way of maximizing net financial flow is the increase in incoming cash flows and slow payments.

Accelerating the flow of funds in the short term can be achieved through such measures [2, p. 378]:

– increase in incoming of advance payments from customers with which cooperation holds the largest share in operating activities of the enterprise;

– discovery “credit line” in the bank, which provides operative receipt of funds of short-term loan for an urgent need to replenish the balance of cash assets.

In the long term increase in incoming cash flow can be achieved through:

1) an increase in equity capital;

2) the sale of assets, primarily fixed assets or putting them out when they are not using effectively;

3) increasing sales of goods or services.

the purpose of slowing disbursements in the short term recommended the following measures:

1) increase the period (in consultation with suppliers) of commodity (commercial) credit;

2) slowing own collection of payments;

3) restructuring of short-term debt by transferring them to long-term debt.

Reduce the amount of initial cash flow in the long run may be due to:

1) reducing the cost of acquisition of material circulating assets;

2) optimization of transport and storage costs;

3) prevention and reduction of production costs.

An important fact in optimizing cash flows are theirs forecasting as a method of calculating different options, a comparison of the results and the best selection. For this option we must choose a methodology that would determine financial flows and net financial results influenced by changes in the external and internal environment.

Conclusion. Financial flow can be conventionally represented as a system of “financial circulation” of economic body because enterprise as efficiently organized financial flows can provide financial position of the company and its competitiveness on the market. Therefore, support for synchronization and balance of financial flows and steady earnings growth should be an integral part of the financial management of the company.